politics | Schools Week

Government refuses MP call to make strategy on sexual harassment a statutory requirement

The government has refused a committee recommendation to make it statutory for schools to develop a specific approach to sexual harassment among pupils, despite numerous MPs calling for it. Following a report from the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) which showed 29 per cent of 16- to 18-year-old girls had experienced unwanted sexual touching at […]

New extremism advice drafted after Trump supporter Milo has school speech cancelled

A teaching union is drafting new guidance for teachers and leaders on extremism after a Kent school cancelled a speech by an alumnus with extreme right-wing views. Simon Langton grammar school for boys in Canterbury announced on Monday that it was ditching a talk by former pupil Milo Yiannopoulos (depicted in above cartoon) following threats […]

Nicky Morgan, former education secretary

Every education secretary has a story of the day they were appointed. Estelle Morris forgot to take photo-ready shoes. Shirley Williams accepted via a late-night phone call in New York. Nicky Morgan mostly tried not to fall over. Summoned from a symposium at the Treasury (where she was financial secretary), she was told the prime […]

Shadow education team has the right experience, says Labour

Labour’s new education team is “rooted in the real world”, says shadow education secretary Angela Rayner in an apparent swipe at the government education line-up. Rayner, who stays on following a reshuffle of the Labour frontbench, said the party would be able to draw on the “really solid and direct experience” of new shadow ministers […]

25% of Cameron’s ‘landmark’ free schools delayed

More than a quarter of free schools approved by David Cameron under a “landmark” wave of applications had to delay opening this year, Schools Week can reveal. Figures released under Freedom of Information laws show at least 14 of the 49 wave 8 free schools announced last year pushed back opening their doors, originally scheduled […]

EXCLUSIVE: Labour admits ‘no policy’ on academies

Labour does not have a policy on the future of the academies programme, a member of the party’s frontbench team has admitted. Lord Watson, the shadow education minister in the House of Lords, told a fringe event at the Labour party conference that the party was in the “early stages” of policy development. Party leader […]

Ofsted chair resigns weeks after disparaging remarks about Isle of Wight

Ofsted chair David Hoare is stepping down from his position with immediate effect, the education watchdog has confirmed. An Ofsted spokesperson told FE Week, Schools Week’s sister paper, this morning that senior non-executive board member James Kempton has agreed to take on the role of chair on an interim basis — while Justine Greening, the education […]

Meet Nick Gibb’s new ‘teacher in residence’

If you’ve heard the schools minister Nick Gibb deliver a speech in the past few years, there’s a strong chance it was written by one of his “teachers in residence”. The scheme, which sees serving teachers employed as civil servants by the Department for Education (DfE) for periods of between eight and 12 months, has […]

DfE denies ‘achieving excellence areas’ policy has been delayed

The government has denied its ambitious plans to provide extra support for schools in struggling areas have been delayed while Theresa May considers whether to lift a ban on grammar schools. Achieving excellence areas was a key policy unveiled in the recent white paper that pledged to inject extra cash and support into priority areas identified as […]